Falsified Documents Tracked Back To Hud Mortgage Fraud

January 21, 1986|By New York Times News Service.

WASHINGTON — Federal investigators have said in recent days that they have uncovered a pattern of frauds against the Department of Housing and Urban Development involving falsified documents used to obtain tens of millions of dollars in government-backed mortgages.

More than a dozen real estate agents and mortgage industry officials have already been indicted or convicted because of their involvement in such schemes in southern New Jersey. In the last year, similar swindles have been reported in Houston, Seattle and Milwaukee.

The housing agency said it appeared that the frauds were somehow related. ``We`re very alarmed because there seems to be some sort of whispering campaign among these people,`` said Robert E. Nipp, an agency spokesman.

``These schemes go from city to city, and it looks like they use the same routine.``

Investigators say the largest of the frauds apparently took place in Washington, and that they are studying nearly 500 mortgages guaranteed by the Federal Housing Authority, a branch of HUD, in low-income areas of the capital.

A federal official knowledgeable about the investigation said that the government faced a possible loss of more than $25 million in Washington alone, which makes it potentially the costliest mortgage swindle in HUD`s history.

The official said indictments were expected shortly, and that nearly 20 people, including major real estate investors, were targets of the inquiry by the housing agency and the U.S. Attorney`s Office for the District of Columbia.

Most of the people publicly identified as subjects of the investigation were either unavailable by telephone or unwilling to talk with reporters. The few who agreed to discuss the investigation denied wrongdoing.